"A lake, like a forest, is timeless, mysterious, and, depending on your point of view, either magical or frightening." In Ghosts of Birch Lake, four narrators provide oral histories covering a quarter century from the late 1930s to the early 1960s. They tell their stories as they orbit around the enigmatic central character, who seems to lead a charmed life. Along the way, the main settings-bustling Chicago and a rustic resort in Wisconsin's north woods-virtually become characters in their own right. Finally, the narrators' separate stories merge together over the course of one fateful spring and summer. As events and their consequences grow ever more difficult to control, the novel twists and turns toward its devastating conclusion. For more information, visit the publisher website: bristolandlyndenpress.com